Babacan: 2007 was a lost year for EU refoms

Turkey's European Union accession reforms slowed down last year due to general elections and Parliament's resulting long recess, said Foreign Minister Ali Babacan yesterday. "As soon as Parliament reopened, work on the budget started, and so there wasn't much progress in legislation in 2007," Babacan told news magazine Kriter. "But this wasn't only for the EU, there wasn't progress in general. 2007 was a lost year for reforms. Now, after the general elections, a new Parliament was seated. There's also a new president. Now the infrastructure is ready for us to continue with a new wave of reforms." He said that nearly 230 meetings on the EU acquis have been held since last fall, adding, "Seventeen delegations were sent to Brussels in the last five months. We'll finish the second round of updates on March 17. More than 40 visits were paid to EU countries at the level of prime minister and state minister. The premier visited five EU countries in five months."